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Is a word highlighted in yellow different than a word highlighted in blue?

Start it off: whole bunch of pictures of Santa…. From 1881 (American depiction of Santa Claus first created by Thomas Nast), World War I, World War II, and so on… Goal show when Santa was created, and how that view has persisted throughout the years. Show a present day picture.

Then…

Picture of a Black Santa (polarize… WHAT IS THIS?!)

Weird? hmmmm… YES

So the conception of Santa was created in 1800’s based on: Dutch tradition of Sinter Klaas which was based on St. Nicholas… But the American view of Santa is different, at least physically

I mean it was created in the 1800’s why in the world would there be a black Santa? Yes, your right there would be no reason

Lets think about the 1800s: we weren’t exactly industrialized (show pictures of farms), we did not exactly have the same acceptance of people as we do today (picture of slaves/ women being oppressed), we did not have the same technology (show a picture

POSSIBLE THESIS: The color of Santa is indicative of the time period in which “he” was created, but not a representation of the values and feelings associated around “him”; therefore, now that we live in the 21st century, the color of Santa can change without any mutation in the tradition of Santa.

On the surface there is nothing wrong with that… But, now there have been appearance of Black Santas…

Talk about Baron Davis and his movements/ The Mall of America

There has been much contest to this… Why does everything have to be about race? Why is Santa bad because he is white?!

Bear with me… take a second and think about black and white… they look different… but pretend it is yellow and purple, blue and green… color doesn’t matter

I want to look at race, which we believe to be color, simply as a construction of power

Show a funny picture…. Not this

But the power of being the default color (white) for “people”…

But, Santa isn’t even a real person he is a SYMBOL that stands for values… XYZ, and use a quote from Black Santa movement– those values can be highlighted in any color and they stay the same

Does white Annie behave any different than white Annie?

You see it’s so hard to accept this because Santa is associated with so many traditions… pictures of families/ friends etc.

But will changing the color of Santa really change what Santa is all about?

Mrs. Hamilton, I have so many things I want to say!!! Five minutes is torture!